


Aftermath

by Thousand_Sweet_Kisses



Category: Horizon: Zero Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, back from the dead, learning to love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-30
Updated: 2019-05-18
Packaged: 2020-02-10 05:58:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18654340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thousand_Sweet_Kisses/pseuds/Thousand_Sweet_Kisses
Summary: Set directly after the Victory scene. Aloy tries to repair GAIA, with help from CYAN and the friends she made during her journey.





	1. Chapter 1

Aloy came back to herself in stages, feeling the shaft of Sylens’ lance in her hand first, then the feeling of her armor and boots. A slight wind could be barely felt against her face and hands, and she could hear the beads securing her braids along with the sounds of men walking around and some grunting in pain. She could smell the fresh air with the metallic tang of blood and smoke of the still smoldering Deathbringer and the rest of the corrupted machines HADES called to stall them. The taste of ash, dirt and other less pleasant tastes coats her tongue and throat and she begins to cough, her eyes watering enough to flush the dirt and ash out of her eyes. She is now able to see and for a few minutes everything is a blur of color until the water in her eyes clears, running down her face as tears.

She could see the figures of Varl and Erend moving around the area, checking on the fighters on the mesa. Naman was standing over a few fighters, and from his posture and hand gestures Aloy guessed he was giving final rites to the men who had died in the fighting. Aloy stumbled over to him, her legs felt like jelly and were just able to support her weight. She looked at the bodies in front of the Sun-Priest. None were her friends, instead the two Braves who seemed to constantly flank the War-Chief were directly in front of her along with a few Thrushes and two Hawks and most if not all of the Vanguard Aloy spoke to before the battle.

She sighed and stood quietly for a minute, thanking both All Mother and the Carja’s Sun God that the losses weren’t more severe on this end. She lightly touched the Priest’s shoulders and stumbled away, her legs now slowly starting to cramp and tighten, turning from Jelly to lead the longer she stays standing. She moves closer to Varl who along with the Brave he’d scolded for calling her anointed, tended to the War Chief. The woman appeared to have a large gash in her thigh and a broken wrist. But she was sickly pale and shuddering. A downed Corrupted Longleg was nearby. Sona was fighting the corruptions effects on living flesh.

Aloy moved a shaking hand to the compartment of her bag that held her potions and quickly downed one of the health potions before passing the Brave one of her Corruption potions to give to the War Chief. She then stumbled away and checked on Talanah who was stitching up one of her Hawks. Aloy parted with another healing potion before moving on to Erend, who was moving the gear of the fallen from where they had died and setting them by the correct bodies. Erend was apparently taking no chances of pissing off any culture by not leaving their weapons with them.

He looked up as she approached and threw his arms around her, he hadn’t seen her since she moved behind the deathbringer to deal with HADES. When he stepped back Varl approached and the three of them headed to a small cliff that faced Meridian. A few people cleaning up and finding the dead and wounded looked up at them. When their eyes processed Aloy standing up there, her bow raised in victory, they gave a great shout that carried from the fields below to the maizelands then to the lower city and carried all the way up to the city itself. Erend pointed out the vantage point that would have been the Temple of the Sun, the last place she had seen Avad before going after Helis. The three of them stay there until the sun began to set.

The three of them made their way back up to the mesa just as some nimble Palace Guards came up the collapsed column. Some carried freshly killed boars and turkeys while others brought bundles of wood or what looked like large lumpy sacks.

The sacks turned out to be stones, Aloy realized as the men who brought them up quickly set up a couple of fire pits and used some debris on the field along with the wood also brought up to start fires. The boars and turkeys were quickly stripped of the good meat before the bones, skin and offal were tossed towards the defeated Deathbringer. The meat was soon cooking, as one of the men approached Erend, who hadn’t left Aloy’s side; neither had Varl.

Aloy’s head was spinning so she tuned out the conversations around them and sat near one of the pits, watching the meat cook, turning it almost mindlessly. She had been on the road alone for so long she thought she could cook meat perfectly in her sleep. One of the men touched her shoulder before handing her a water skein. Aloy then suddenly realized that she was parched and quickly downed the entire skein before passing it back and receiving a second skein. She sipped at this one before clipping it to her belt and starting to help pull up the medical supplies the guards were now hauling up the collapsed pillar. 

The water helped somewhat, her head wasn’t spinning as much, but that might have been more her sitting down then the water, either way she was glad. The cooked meat was passed around the the fighters first before the soldiers who came after and everyone was glad for even the simple meal. The spinning in her head entirely gone now, Aloy headed to see how they were going to get back down. Wooden planks connected the arch she and the others jumped down from to the ground she had meet the others. The planks were solid enough to stay in place; so she climbed up them and headed down. She was thankful not to have to use the climbing hand holds to get back down.

She landed and kept moving to the destroyed stone bridge. Two ropes had been hammered into the anchors. One on each end and one in the middle. One rope was at the same level as Aloy’s feet, the other was at her shoulder. They were to ease crossing, to where the Palace Guards could get to them to help. She quickly crossed, already feeling the rope starting to give. That rope hadn’t been treated to withstand the amount of weight it needed to. They needed to, at the very least, replace the lower rope with one that had been treated to withstand more abuse; like the kind the Nora, and other tribes used to make their climbing paths and Brave Trails. She hoped the rope would hold her weight when she returned.

She made her way to the wooden bridge to see a group of Oseram, that she remembered from Free Heap; with them was Petra, blood on her arms but she was still working with her people. They were making a plank bridge to haul across the the remaining wooden anchors from the destroyed bridge. With a start she realized that Ikirie, Nakoa and Teb were among the Oseram. Teb was working on threading treated rope through holes Ikirie punched through the planks of wood. Free Heap’s Oseram were then threading Behemoth cables in the free space to give the rope extra support.

Nakoa and a small Carja man were nailing in the center rope to the ground on the other side. When they finished the man wrapped some rope around Nakoa’s waist and she took a few steps back before making a running jump. She caught herself on the yellow rope of the first pole and pulled herself up before jumping to the next pole and finally to the other side. Aloy pulled her up and she nodded before driving in a stake and taking the rope from around her waist and tying it off. She hopped back out to the poles and the Carja tossed her forked pieces of metal that Petra had been using blaze to heat and bend. The sharpened edges were driven into the wood, the piece of rope held securely to the pole. The process repeated on the last pole before Nakoa returned to the group.

“Aloy, if you could come across and test the rope out,” Nakoa called to her and allow nodded before pressing down on a section of rope that was just off the edge of where she was standing. It held with no give and so she crouched and quickly moved across the rope. Nakoa and Teb nodded to her before the Carja hammered in two more spikes on either side of the middle rope. Fresh skeins of rope were pulled out of a sack near his feet. One skein went to each of the new stakes. The man then tied one end of both skeins to his waist before making his own way across the rope Nakoa put in place. He didn’t stop and was soon on the other side. He untied himself and pulled each rope taught. He then scored the ground at a certain point with a foot or so of extra rope left behind the score lines.

Nakoa followed with two stakes and a medium sized hammer, larger than the one she had used. The man then used the extra rope to tie a series of knots around the stake before pounding it into the earth at the score mark. He repeated the process on the other side before heading across to pick up his bag. Aloy say more rope skeins and stakes both the straight kind and the bent kind along with the two hammers. He crossed rope again and headed up to the stone bridge with the failing rope. Aloy helped Teb with the rest of the rope stitches before Petra and the others finished with the support cables.

Now that Aloy looked at the temporary bridge she noticed that wire rings had also been attached to the edges of the wood, but they were open on one end and not attached to anything. Two others were at the finished end, and had rope tied to the ends. They quickly finished the bridge and two of the Palace guards came down from the Spire and quickly crossed one at a time. The took the ends of the ropes attached to the wires and climbed back across to the other side. The started to gently pull the bridge into place on the ropes.

Aloy watched as Nakoa and Teb moved to either side of the gap and slip the rope into the open wire circles before twisting them closed. Aloy understood that they were to guide the bridge into the correct position over the ropes and have support on either side and in the middle. The two of them finished closing the last wire ring and stood up. Teb secured the extra rope on their end while the guards did the same on the other side of the bridge.

The first bridge was soon in place and everyone headed across, hauling supplies to build a second one over the now collapsed stone bridge. This one would be even harder to make. The last one was easy due to the stumps having stayed intact, the wood more than likely breaking due to the weight of the Deathbringer and HADES’ orb crossing it. But this bridge had been made from stone, and held the weight. More than likely HADES had ordered its destruction after crossing it, to slow down anyone wanting to follow. The centerpiece was uneven; there was no way the crew could repeat the last bridge for this one. Petra and two of her Oseram pushed forward looking at it from that angle before one of them hopped over and tested the stone before returning.

“The rock on top will have to be blasted. One or two impact bombs should do it.” He told her. Petra nodded and turned to Aloy.

“You look at bit like death warmed over, Flame Hair.” She said bluntly before turning to Nakoa and Teb. “Both of you get across and over to the spire’s flat surface. Tell them about the blasting being done. I don’t want to risk having a barrage of arrows come from above in response to the blasts.” She told them and they nodded before nimble crossing the broken bridge and racing out of sight.

Petra came over to Aloy, she would wait until the runners returned before starting the blasting. She instead stared intently at Aloy, eyes roving over her face and limbs, looking for any sign of severe injury.

“The cliff came down on you, and you faced the Deathbringer, Corruptors and their corrupted machines, but you bear no visible injuries…” she trailed over before coming closer and grabbing Aloy’s hands. She checked each finger before dropping one of Aloy’s arms. She felt up the arm she still held before repeating the process on the other before pressing her hands over Aloy’s ribs. When Petra neared the sides of Aloy’s breasts, Aloy hissed in pain.

“What side?” Petra asked simply, her usual teasing and flirting tone gone in the face of concern.

“Right, I was toppled at some point during the face off with the corrupted machines and the Deathbringer.” Aloy answered, now that the pain had been triggered with the gentle press of Petra’s hand, it was at the forefront of Aloy’s mind. She would need to bind her ribcage soon.

“Come on, a Medical tent is being set up just at the top of the first set of stairs, behind the divider.” Petra guided Aloy back down the path. Half way down the slope, Aloy stumbled, causing Petra to wrap her arm around Aloy’s waist and guide Aloy’s left arm across her shoulders. Petra slowed the pace, and soon was no longer supporting Aloy’s full weight, merely supporting it as the two navigated their way across the churned rock that had once been perfectly smooth.

A tent had been set up. It was large by Nora standards, but was just a bit smaller than the tents she had seen in The Cut. Two people were already moving under it: A Sun-Priest and Banuk Shaman. As the two approached the Banuk gave a relieved sound and hurried to their side; it was Naltuk, Ourea’s apprentice. A space cleared off and Petra guided Aloy over to it.

“She needs her ribs bound; she did something to the upper/middle ribs on her right side during the fight atop the spire.” Petra told the young man. Naltuk nodded before grabbing a container from the messy work table near him. He also grabbed a single piece of ridge wood. A fire just outside of the tent was already lit with a pot of water suspended over it. Petra spoke a few words to Aratak and Naltuk before heading back up the hill. She had more than likely warning them of the blasting.

“Elida went to grab cloth to use for bandages, so we’ll have to wait until she returns to fully bind your ribs, but we could get you out of the armor and I can place a salve that will numb and soothe the area.” He told her and Aloy nodded, reaching up to undo the headpiece before moving to the straps that held her shield-weaver armor.

“I never did ask you about your armor when you were in The Cut, though I did note that it wasn’t designed for the bracing cold,” he started as he put each piece she removed and handed to him in a careful pile.

“It is a relic of the Old Ones, found in a bunker near the ruins of Devil’s Thirst outside of the Embrace.” Aloy answered. The Banuk didn’t explore the ruins of the Old Ones they came across, but that was more because of the fact that they weren’t up in The Cut and they had fallen. The Banuk would survive and purveil without the knowledge of those who came before; since the Old Ones fell.

“And what does this armor do?” Aratak asked coming into the tent with armfuls of medicinal herbs found around the Alight.

“The Old Ones were testing armor weaves that would resist oncoming ranged attacks; the project was scrapped but this, their prototype remained. I found it while exploring the Sacred Lands, right outside of The Embrace after being named Seeker for the Nora Tribe.” Aloy answered. “It has a short life before it fails, but comes back in time due to the heat of a body produces or from the sun.”

“So you chose hunting functionality over comfort?” Naltuk asked and Aloy nodded as she lowered the side pane of her under clothes on her right side. Naltuk gently cleaned the area with a wet cloth from the water boiling over the fire. It didn’t feel great to Aloy as she hissed in pain. But she soon found herself sighing in relief when the salve covered her entire rib cage.

“What is that stuff and how can I get some?” She wondered feeling the applied area go numb and the throb ease.

“It’s made from Freeze Rime Root and chillwater. I’ll teach you how to make it.” Naltuk said.

Just then Elida came up the stairs with a skein of cloth bandages. Naltuk and Aratak left after the Shaman told Elida how he wanted Aloy’s ribs bound. Elida helped Aloy to lower the rest of her clothes before setting to work. At every stage she checked with Aloy to make sure the rib cage was secure but not too tight. When she was finished she helped Aloy pull her clothes. 

“We normally recommend light work for a few weeks,” Elida stated. “But with you; I don’t think that will work. So instead I’ll ask that you just take it easy. At night use Chillwater canisters over the injured rib, and apply Naltuk’s salve whenever you want.” Elida told her as the two of them worked to put Aloy’s Shield Weaver armor back on.

“When we get everyone back to the palace and you are able to take a bath, I’ll wait and redo the binding.” Elida said before turning back to another task. Aratak and Naltuk were busy making stretchers in the field below. She waved to Aratak when he looked over towards the Alight before turning to the hill.

A few blasts rocked the ground as Petra’s team blasted the center of the stone bridge to make an even surface to rig up a temporary bridge. When the sound dissipated, Aloy slowly walked up the hill. She took measured breaths; not too shallow and not too deep. Deep breaths hurt with her ribs bound not enabling her rib cage to expand with a full deep breath. She moved slowly, half her mind on cataloging any moderate to severe aches or pains. She had nothing as bad as her rib cage, and she guessed that most of her body would be black and blue by the time they left the Alight.

A quick tap of her focus showed no functioning machines in the focus’ vicinity, so that was one less worry. The new bridge swayed a bit with her weight but did not feel like it was about to suddenly fold inward and send her plummeting to the ground below.

Her pace slowed even further after crossing the new bridge as she approached the second bridge. The group there had been successful in blasting a portion of the standing center, making it flatter then it had been. They were now in the process of drilling holes into the waiting planks of wood. Aloy sat down and watched, feeling her eyes blink close a couple times before Nakoa set up Petra’s Hammock while the Forgewoman herself guided Aloy toward it.

“Sleep for an hour or so Flame Hair. You won’t be able to do anything until we make the bridge, so sleep while you can. I’ll wake you if any machines are spotted or we finish building the bridge.” She kajolled before simply pushing Aloy into the hammock.

The hammock was soft and Aloy immediately felt her eyes start to close. She would sleep for a bit, while the others build the bridge. Petra watched the girl’s eyes flutter close before pulling one edge of the hammock over her body like a blanket. Petra watched over her for a few seconds before letting out a great sigh and heading back over to her workers.

She was in some big trouble. Petra thought to herself as she walked. Aloy was fascinating. She said what she thought, didn’t mince her words to cut around an issue and she was willing to go after some of the most dangerous machines purely for a part that was experimental. She had even heard from Varga, who followed her father into the cut, that Aloy willing went after a thunderbird, and a thunderbird to upgrade the weapons she had been given while in the Cut. Aloy reminded Petra of herself, brash and reckless but loyal. But also a wanderer; never staying in one place for too long, leaving without goodbyes and vanishing like smoke in the wind. Only to show up again. Unable to stay yet unable to stay away for too long.

If Petra was honest with herself, she only flirted outrageously with Aloy when she first blew through the Heap because she wouldn’t come back. Rumors from traveling merchants had already reached them of a Red haired Nora woman who could tame the machines; to the point where seeing her racing along roads and such while on the back of a Strider was not an uncommon sight.

Well, it wasn’t like it was a hardship to flirt with Aloy, so as long as Aloy didn’t object she’d just continue to be herself and see where that lead her. With that decided Petra turned her attention back to making the bridge to get everyone off the Spire and on the road to Meridian. 


	2. Chapter 2

Three hours, that’s how long it took to make this second bridge. That was how long Aloy slept in a hammock Petra set up after leaving Aloy with the medics. Petra never let the hammock out of her sight. Her entire crew, even the ones that didn’t know her, moved as silently as they could; some brought the louder pieces further down the Alight, closer to the second bridge just so the noise wouldn’t wake her up.

The sun was setting by the time the bridge had finished. Petra moved closer to the hammock to wake Aloy up. Teb, Nakoa and the Carja trail maker were testing the bridge and installing hand holds. Petra made it over to the hammock and was immediately concerned. Aloy’s head was moving back and forth in the hammock. Her eyes jumping more than usual underneath her eyelids. Petra placed a hand on Aloy’s shoulder and the redhead flew up into a sitting position, almost falling out of the hammock. One of Aloy’s hands flew to the fine white line on her neck while the other grasped around for her spear; a spear that was nowhere near her; Petra suddenly realised.

“Woah, easy Flame Hair,” Petra exclaimed and watched as Aloy’s eyes found her. The older woman knelt down to where she was eye level with Aloy. She guided the hand that was grasping for her spear and guided it to Petra’s ribs, where Aloy could feel the ribs expanding and contracting. “Breath, Aloy,” Petra murmurs, just loud enough for the younger woman to hear. She watched as Aloy closed her eyes and work to match her breathing to what she could feel from the ribs of the Forgewoman.

Eventually she calmed down and the hand at her throat dropped to her lap. She opened her eyes and smiled at the Oseram female before grabbing the water skein from her pile of weapons. She drained it in a couple big gulps. She dropped the skein to the ground and pushed herself up. With a short nod to Petra the two woman packed up. Aloy tucked her three slings into her belt next to the correct ammo for each and hooked the bow into the slot on her back. Petra took down the hammock, carefully folding it into small bundle.

The two woman crossed the new bridge, rejoining the group of people who had built the two new bridges and carefully trudging up to the temple and base of the Spire. The group there had started to set up tents and hammocks for the night, as they were unsure of how long it would take to build the bridges to get down.

Petra’s crew immediately begin creating a gentler sloped ramp to carry the dead and wounded down the Alight. They left partially constructed stretchers on the ground near the fallen. Petra sent Nakoa back to the Palace, to request more people to help haul the injured and killed off the Alight. Teb had moved to treating the Nora, who had refused Talanah’s help the moment the stitcher arrived. He immediately took over and finished stitching up the injured Nora, and dictating to Talanah who could wake down and who should be carried on a stretcher.

Petra had Aloy sit down near one of the fires to rest, she would help the injured who could walk down the hill. They just needed more healthy people to help them. Talanah came over to her.

“I’m going to run to the Lodge and see who’s there and willing to help. I’ll be back.” Talanah told her before heading down the Alight. Petra made the rounds among the Oseram before sitting down next to Aloy.

“Well, we’ve done all we can. We need more people to get the injured and dead down and into the Palace and City. Avad told me before I headed over that everyone will have a room in the Palace for the next few days. He hopes they stay so he can figure out a way to honor the ones who fell while defending the Alight and Ridge. He’ll also ask about funerary traditions.” She said and Aloy nodded, starting to feel the pain from her ribs and various other injuries.

Petra looked over at her, and Aloy could not hide her pain from the older woman. Petra said nothing, having figured out that Aloy had been raised to not show pain, physical or emotional. She also learned during the time between her arrival and Aloy’s arrival that Aloy had been raised as an outcast from the Nora. So instead of suggesting that Aloy go rest in the sleeping pallets setup by the Nora, she held her hand out to the girl and headed over to a still standing building and leaned against the building, and guided the girl to lean against her.

“Sleep some more, let you body heal.” Petra said and Aloy started to shake her head. “I’ll wake you up if your needed or when help arrives.” Petra said. Aloy still looked ready to refuse, so Petra got creative. She pulled Aloy down in front of her.

“Sleep Flame Hair.” Petra said and Aloy gave in, after yawning. She leaned back against Petra and closed her eyes. Petra knew the girl wasn’t sleeping, but she was resting. She pulled her legs in tighter and wrapped her arms around Aloy’s shoulders. After a few minutes a Nora man approached and simple handed her his own cloak. Petra threw the fur cloak over Aloy before nodding at the man who then moved over to the female and Teb.

Looking at the two of them Petra figured that they were Mother and Son. They looked the same and had the same blue marking over their right eyes. Petra rested her head back against the wall and simply breathed. She didn’t fall asleep, but she did take the few precious hours of quiet to reflect and enjoy having Aloy in her arms.

Petra knew that due to Aloy’s restlessness the girl was unlikely to stay in any place for long, but she hoped that Aloy would feel more comfortable returning to Free Heap. Returning to Petra.

**Author's Note:**

> Hopefully you guys enjoy this work. I have the first four chapters written, and the start of five handwritten. If you guys have any ideas for chapter names, let me know in the comments.


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